Jeff Hamilton, an artist who goes by the acronym “XVALA” — though no one is quite sure what it stands for — has been dumpster diving through the trash cans of Silicon Valley’s tech stars. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, Google’s Larry Page as well as former Apple CEO, Steve Jobs have all had their discarded belongings raided for potential additions to Hamilton’s “Tabloid Art”, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Anything from coat hangers to empty booze bottles and spread sheets are sorted through and manipulated to represent some controversial message. For example, Hamilton has taken one of Zuckerberg’s discarded coat hangers, bent it into a phallic symbol and painted the metal blue. He calls this piece, “Mark Zuckerberg’s Not Very Well Hung Hanger.”
“I wanted to ‘expose’ Zuckerberg like he exposes Facebook users, daily.”
Cory Allen, Hamilton’s art dealer, had this to say about the subject.
“Facebook has the potential to air everyone’s dirty laundry — and does. XVALA is making that comment by having fun with Zuckerberg by showing the world his personal trash in a provocative and artistic way.”
Another notable piece from Hamilton includes a street art installation where the hacked nude photos of Scarlett Johannsson were posted, with her more intimate parts censored with “Fear Google” stickers. Pieces similar to these are expected to appear online and in gallery shows under the collection title, “Dumpster Diving Silicon”.
Below you’ll find a video of XVALA’s Zuckerberg hanger sculpture from Cory Allen Contemporary Art (CACA). Check it out.
What do you think? Do you consider these sculptures to be real artwork? What was your initial reaction to reading the above? Sound off below.
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